The 7th International Conference on Predictive Modelling of Food Quality and Safety

The 7th International Conference on Predictive Modelling of Food Quality and Safety, sponsored by Creme, The International Committee on Food Microbiology and Hygiene of the IUMS, The Society for Applied Microbiology and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, was held in Dublin, Ireland between September 12th and 15th, 2011.

A key theme of the conference was the importance of predictive food microbiology research to the global food supply chain, as illustrated by the range of attendees from academia to regulators to multinationals, and vocalised by Minister of State Shane McEntee T.D. and Prof. Patrick Wall during their opening addresses.A large number of talks focused on Creme’s core interest of risk assessment, including presentations by two of the keynote speakers: Dr. Marta Hugas (European Food Safety Authority) and David Vose, as well as a contributed talk on a risk assessment model of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ground beef and beef cuts in Canada by Ben Smith of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The conference was very well organised by UCD, Teagasc and DIT, with Prof. Tom McMeekin’s plenary lecture providing an excellent opening to the scientific program with an overview of the progress in predictive microbiology over the last 30 years. As well as providing reviews of past and current research and techniques, the conference included a demonstration of a new online tool, the Microbial Responses Viewer (http://cbnfri.dc.affrc.go.jp/MRV/) by Dr. Shigenobu Koseki of Japan’s National Food Research Institute, which promises to be a useful resource for those requiring easy access to the Combase microbial database.